


Five Years

by kattoria



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 08:05:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1891494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattoria/pseuds/kattoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lacie lost her parents 5 years ago when Wall Maria was breached by the Colossal Titan. Saved by a nameless soldier, she decided to become a soldier herself to keep any child from seeing their parents devoured again.<br/>Lacie, however, isn't a very skilled soldier. She screws up. A lot.</p><p>Only "mature" because of the gore and violence. Probably no smut. Maybe. Not sure yet.<br/>Also, I write it and proof-read it. I might miss a few typos and grammatical errors so I'm incredibly sorry for any issues that may cause you. I try to make sure it's perfect...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

"Daddy? Daddy?" I ran outside, looking for my father. Turning my head, I saw him on the ground. He was staring up at... something. "Daddy! Where's---" He looked at me, eyes flashing with fear. "Lacie---!" He started before a hand, larger than any I had seen before, reached down and encircled him. "Run!" He yelled, struggling in the massive fist. "Daddy!" I cried, jumping after him but coming no where near to reaching him. "RUN, Lacie, RU--" His calls were cut off with a scream of pure agony. "DADDY!" I stumbled back, seeing my father limply hanging from the mouth of a monster- a titan.  
I ran. I heard it lumbering after me, strides longer than mine by feet. I cried loudly, stumbling on bits of rubble and what looked like bodies. My neighbors were heaps of flesh around me.  
I turned a corner and proceeded to trip on an arm. I fell onto my face, scraping my cheek against the ground. I pulled myself up on my elbows and turned to see the titan that followed me. It's smile was satire in my situation. It reached out, fingers nearly brushing my feet, when it stopped moving. The titan fell to the ground, smoke arising from it's body. A woman stood on it's back, swords in both hands. She hopped down and ran over to me. "You need to reach the gates to Wall Rose!" I sniffled, taking her hand and getting up as quickly as I could. My knees were scraped up badly. Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked behind her, above, and then behind me. "I'll take you there."  
In minutes, she had put me on her back and my hero was running through the streets to Wall Rose. Thankfully, I didn't live too far from it. She set me down in the group of people trying to get in, pat my head, and ran off again. "La-LACIE!" I heard a scream. It was my neighbor, Eliza. She grabbed my shoulders, tears rolling down her face. "Thank god you're safe thank... where are your parents?" She knew the answer when I looked at her, eyes overflowing with tears. Eliza grabbed my tight, hugging me until I worried I'd break.  
I stopped crying. Crying solved nothing.  
I decided I would save the next little girl or boy that was alone in such a time.  
I would be like that nameless woman that rescued me. She must have seen horrible things, but I saw no tears staining her face.  
I would become a soldier like her.


	2. Chapter 2

Five years later  
I sat down at a table with my food, slumping tiredly. Krista sat next to me with a small smile. "Training was hard today, wasn't it?" She asked, breaking off a bit of bread and popping it in her mouth. I nodded, straightening up and taking a deep breath. We talked idly for a few minutes before we heard someone shouting. Krista stood up, looking at the two boys who were arguing loudly. Their voices cut over each other, making it impossible to understand what they were saying. I recognized them as Jean Kirschtein and Eren Jaeger. Ymir walked over to us, draping an arm around Krista's shoulders and sighing. "Two idiots at it again, huh?" She laughed, grabbing a bit of Krista's bread.  
There were a few gasps and loud grunt. "Eren--" a girl called out. More gasps, and a loud thud. "Jean!" shouted a different voice. Krista ran over with Ymir following. Sighing, I walked after them to see what had happened.   
Jean was standing over Eren, Armin holding onto his arm as if he could hold him back. Armin was shorter than most girls and Jean was easily one of the tallest boys here. There was no way Armin could withhold him if Jean wanted to hit Eren again. Eren was leaned up against a pillar with Mikasa holding a cloth up to his nose. "I'm fine." He grumbled, trying to wave her off. She just slapped his hands away, mumbling about how stupid he was.  
Turning, I saw that Jean had a red mark on his cheekbone. He stormed out without a word, and no one followed. "Eren, are you okay? How hard did he hit you?" Krista bent down next to him, trying to asses the damage. "I'm fine and he didn't hit me hard at all..." He said, a small pout visible. Eren, you baby. "You hit him first and there are more people wondering if you're okay." I snapped. He looked up at me, eyes narrowed. I sneered and walked off to see if Jean was okay. It wasn't fair that no one had ran off after him when he hadn't started the fight.   
I left the mess hall, glancing around to see where Jean was. I found him almost instantly, sitting down against the building's outer wall. "Hey." I jogged over to him, sliding down against the wall next to him. He didn't look at me when he mumbled something that sounded like a "hi". "Are you okay? Your face was red and it looked like it hurt."  
"I'm okay." He said, touching his cheek gently and making a face. "You're not very convincing." I stated, leaning my head up against the wall. "Why do you care?" He asked.  
I grinned, "Ouch." He stared back with no expression. With a dramatic sigh, I stood up. "I came out here because no one else did and Eren's being babied by Mikasa and Armin and Krista and I thought you deserved someone to care for you because you're aren't a terrible person. I mean, he hit you first. Why does everyone worry about him? But if you don't want my company and compassion, I'll go ruffle Eren's hair and tend to his every wish."   
There was a moment of silence, so I turned and started walking away. "Wait--" He said. I heard him stand up behind me. "Yes?" I responded, not turning around. "Could you... just... bring me some ice or something?" He asked quietly. "Maybe." I answered as I walked away. "Please!" He called out.   
"Sure, just give me a minute."

Days later  
I flew through the air, the 3DMG unlatching from the trees and grabbing those even farther. There was a moment, a small one, of free falling. A moment where you weren't supported by anything. You just kept moving. And then, it hooked onto the next thing and you were jerked again. I preferred the free falling.   
I wasn't very good at the whole killing titans thing. We attacked the fake titans as a training exercise. I got my blades stuck in their neck way too often. Eren and Mikasa flew by me, taking out two of the titans I had been heading for. I changed direction, going to the left. After a few more minutes, I saw three more. Real life scenario, I'd turn around and get away as fast as possible. However, considering they couldn't hurt me... I flew up, hacking at the neck. My blades lodged themselves in, and I let go. Not watching where I was going, I hit a tree branch and climbed up. I sighed. Another failure on my part.  
After landing on the tree branch that was thankfully directly over the titan who had stolen my swords, I started pulling. I cursed quietly as the handles popped off the blades. I tried to put them back on, but they wouldn't. Groaning, I set them aside and started trying to get the blades free. "How did I even do this?" I asked myself, prying at them.   
Something whipped by me, cutting both of the titans before landing on a branch across from me.  
"What did you do?"   
Jean. That's bastard was here to laugh at me.  
"They got stuck and the handles won't go back on. If I leave them, Shadis will kill me." I told him, grabbing the top part that wasn't sharp with my thumb and index finger. They just slipped off. "Fuck." I cursed again.  
"Move and I'll see if I can cut them free." He offered.  
"No, I can do it. I can't just have you do everything for me." It was true. When he was my partner for hand-to-hand combat, he didn't even hit me as hard as Armin would. And that was saying something.   
"You aren't going to get them out by just pulling." He added.  
I glared at him and stood up, walking closer to the tree so he could just cut them out. He made a face and jumped over, 3DMG grabbing onto it and pulling him the short distance.  
He cut them out easily, leaving the titan's neck looking like it had gone through hell. After handing me my blades, I stuck them back into the compartments and put on new ones.   
"Diagonally. You have to cut at an angle." Jean said. I sighed with annoyance, "I know. I just... don't." I shifted the blades in my hands, mumbling a thank you, and then flying off.


	3. Chapter 3

Jean had the knife this time, and he looked reluctant to attack me.  
I made a face and darted out, grabbing it easily. He just stepped back and acted like he had been surprised. "Really, Jean? You suck."   
He looked offended. "What, you got it." He pointed to the wooden dagger.   
"Yeah, because you let me have it. You basically handed to me." I snapped.  
He shrugged, "Fine. Your turn. I'll take it from you."  
"Don't go easy on me." I said through grit teeth, standing back and waiting a second.  
Before I had time to defend myself, he had stepped forward, punched me in the shoulder and ripped the dagger from my hands. Added attack, he kicked my legs out from under me and I fell.  
I grunted, rubbing my shoulder. He actually hit me pretty hard for once. "I go easy on you for a reason." He said, offering me a hand. I glared at him, and kicked him in the shin lightly. I got up without his help. "But then I'll never get any better." I mumbled.  
"I'm not some weak little girl." I grumbled, crossing my arms. Jean blinked twice but didn't say anything. God, I was worse than Krista. I couldn't even beat Armin. At this point, I would never be able to help anyone in a real titan attack.   
Shadis blew a whistle, signaling the end of training today. We all filed out. 

The next day, they got sorted into ranks. Mikasa was obviously first. A few down the line was Eren in fifth. Jean got sixth. I was sure to hear something about that once all of this was over. Armin beamed at his friends from next to me. Krista was in tenth, which I felt was weird. She wasn't very strong. I internally shrugged and accepted that Ymir did something.   
They disbanded and we were given freedom for the rest of the night. That was more surprising than Krista in tenth. Krista and Jean made their way over to me while Armin jogged off to Eren and Mikasa.   
"Hey, you both got in the top ten." I grinned, hugging Krista as she giggled helplessly. "Below Jaeger... Fuck, how am I below Jaeger?" Jean asked, huffily sticking his hands into his pockets.   
I rolled my eyes, "I don't know Jean. Maybe because he's better at hand-to-hand combat?" I suggested lightly.  
Wrong move, I offended him.  
"Better at hand-to-hand combat?" He huffed, crossing his arms. "Jaeger isn't better than me in anything. Besides, I'm better on the three dimensional maneuver gear..." He pouted.   
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. You're joining the Military Police and he's going to the Survey Corps."   
Ymir walked over then, and Krista left with her. Ymir looked faintly bored, but couldn't hide the small smile she got whenever Krista was near her. It was cute.  
"Yeah... What about you, though? You can't join the Military Police."  
I sighed, twirling my hair and looking at my feet.   
"I would tell you the truth but then you'll get pissed."  
"Laci--Lacie no. You're not thinking about the Survey Corps are you?" He snapped.  
"Yeah. I don't want to be a useless freeloader in the Garrison Regiment. I want to help humanity."  
"Help humanity by joining the Survey Corps? That's stupid. All they do is die."  
"It doesn't matter what you say, because that's what I'm joining. I've wanted to join them since the beginning."  
"Why didn't you say something?"  
"Because you would have gotten mad. Besides, we already had Eren to obsess over them. I had no reason to speak up about it."  
"If you tried harder you could have gotten into the top ten and then you could have joined the Military Police..." He said with a deep sigh.  
I shrugged, indifferent. "I don't want to join the Military Police. That's you, Jean."   
Thankfully, Marco ran up before he could say anything else. "We're going to the Military Police, Jean! We did it!" He said excitedly. Then, realizing I was there, he smiled and gave me a hug. "Hi, Lacie. What are you planning on joining?"   
Before I could answer, Jean snapped, "Survey Corps."   
I rolled my eyes and nodded in agreement. Marco nodded back knowingly. "You'll be with Eren and Mikasa and Armin and... um..." I laughed, "I'll be with the psychopath, his knight in shining armor, and then the sweet genius boy. Yep, that's what it seems like." Jean didn't react, but Marco laughed lightly.   
I ignored Jean and continued to talk to Marco on the way to the mess hall.


	4. Chapter 4

I stood on top of the wall, looking over. It seemed crazy that I used to live somewhere out there.   
Thomas and Mina were talking happily, Connie was cleaning a canon, Eren was staring off into the distance... and Sasha showed up with something she shouldn't have. "Sasha--" Connie said, jaw dropping. "I took it from the Officer's Provisions." She breathed out, a smile dancing across her lips.  
"Sasha! Do you want to spend time in solitary confinement?" Connie asked.  
"No one else needs to know. We'll all share it on bread... After we take back Wall Maria, we'll have enough land to have more cows and sheep and animals. Meat won't be such a luxury then."  
I raised my eyebrow at her. "Sure, but it'll become a luxury again once you eat it all."   
Thomas snorted with laughter as Sasha nodded solemnly in agreement with my statement.  
She put it in a supply box and shut it tight. "If none of you want it, I'm fine eating it by myself..." She said, trailing off.  
"I'll have some!" Mina cried out. "S--Same!" Thomas said."  
"Don't leave me out of it!" Connie said, standing up.   
"I'll take some, too!" I said. I glanced at Eren, "What about you?"  
He smiled, "Count me in."   
It was nice to see him smile. He was cute, and normally just looked angry.  
We went back to maintenance in high spirits.  
But that changed. (everything changed when the fire nation attacked)  
It had been five years, but the Colossal Titan was back.  
Hot steam engulfed us and we retreated, jumping down the wall and holding on with 3DMG. "Hey, Samuel!" Someone yelled. I looked to the side and saw Sasha running down the wall in the direction of Samuel who was falling fast. Then one of the anchors of her gear shot out and grabbed his leg. "Stay still, you hear me?" She yelled.   
I heard a gasp and jerked my head up. The titan's hand had gripped the wall, and I heard the crash of the gate being broken.  
"It's happening again!" I heard someone, Connie maybe, yell.   
"Ready the reinforced cannons!" Eren shouted. We all were shocked, paralyzed by the appearance of this titan. "Your objective lies straight ahead! At the Colossal Titan, now!" Eren yelled at us, trying to spur us into action. He yelled again, "Don't let it get away!" Before he latched onto the top of the wall and vanished from sight.  
There was another loud crash and we gasped, seeing the cannons be thrown to the side. It had attacked them? Did it have intelligence?  
Suddenly, it was gone and someone yelled up, "Eren, did you kill it?"   
We all made it up the wall, and he shook his head. "Sorry, I let it get away."  
I gaped at him. "Eren, none of us even tried to attack it. Don't be sorry."   
"What are you trainees doing here?" A member of the Garrison told us, swords drawn. "Get to headquarters at once." We left quickly, not wanting to stay around.

I was in the middle guard, stationed on roofs while we waited for titans. We just had to keep the titans away from the evacuating citizens. With the Scouting Legion gone, we lacked a team of extremely powerful people. We were screwed.  
It was quiet for a while, besides the sounds of screaming in the distance. There were no titans that had made it as far as us yet. We traveled slowly and cautiously.  
"Armin!" Connie yelled. I turned, seeing Armin sitting on a roof and staring at everything with a blank look in his eyes. "What happened to your team? Why are you damp?" Connie inquired, wiping his hand on his hip. Armin started screaming, "Just die already!" I jumped, watching as Connie grabbed his shoulders and asked again what happened to his team.  
Ymir spoke up, "That's enough, Connie. They're all dead except him."  
"Shut up, he hasn't said that!" Connie snapped back.  
"Sucks, he's the least competent of us all. Why couldn't someone else have lived?"   
There was silence for a frightening moment. "You shit-faced bitch... How about I make sure you can never open your mouth again!" Connie yelled, standing up.  
"Stop it you two!" Krista said, getting in the way of Ymir and Connie. "Everybody here is on edge. With so many of our friends dead so suddenly... its only natural..." She reasoned. Ymir threw her arm around her, laughing heartily. "That's my Krista! When this operation is over, let's get married."  
Connie scowled at Ymir and then offered a hand to Armin. "Can you stand--"   
Armin stood, tears welling in his eyes. "Sorry for causing you so much trouble. I'll just go join the rear guard." He said in a hallow voice before running off.   
I severely hoped that his team was okay.   
I didn't think they were, though.


	5. Chapter 5

We were all sitting on the roof, listening to the withdrawal bell. "Fuck, what do we do?" Someone asked, pacing angrily.   
"We do nothing." Jean said, head in hands, "They've rung the withdrawal signal at last... yet here we are, out of gas and unable to climb the wall. Now we're all gonna die. We are. All of us... because of those filthy cowards." I sat down next to him, hugging my arms and staring at the building that was being overrun by titans.  
"If we keep scurrying about like mice trying to escape, we'll only end up squandering what precious little gas we have left! And once we completely lose our mobility, it's over!" Connie spoke, trying to be inspiring.  
"You're using your head for a change, Connie...however, do you really think we can make a difference given our current manpower?"  
Looking around, it was clear to see everyone was in low spirits. We were a group of trainees. "We just need a leader--" Connie tried.  
I sighed deeply, "Even if we did find a leader, we can't do much about those titans. The storage rooms are probably overrun by three to four meter titans. We can't fight them in such close quarters."   
"So we can't do anything?" Connie asked, voice dropping to one of defeat. "What lucky lives we've had." Jean grumbled.  
Mikas showed up. "Aren't you supposed to be in the rear guard?" Someone asked. She ignored them and walked to Annie. "I understand the situation and I hate to ask a personal question, but have you seen Eren's team?"  
Annie silently pointed to Armin who was sitting against a wall.   
She walked over to him. I couldn't hear most of the conversation, but from the look she had on her face and Armin's tears, I knew what had happened. Everyone except Armin had died. Ymir had been right.  
There was a dead silence that washed over us, and for a moment no one seemed to even breathe. Everyone else had figured out as well.  
Mikasa walked off, talking to Marco quietly. Then, she raised her sword and stared at all of us. "I am strong. Extraordinarily so... much more than you guys!" Everyone stared at her. "Therefore... I am perfectly capable of kicking those titan scumbags' collective ass... including my own , if I have to."   
She paused, staring at all of us. "Are you all such a bunch of incompetents? You gutless, spineless cowards... For shame... for shame indeed. You just stay there and watch in helpless envy... Yeah, you do that."  
"What are you talking about?" I snapped. "Do you plan on taking on all of those titans on your own?" I stood up and glared at her. "That's a suicide mission and you know it." She stared at me, eyes dark and empty. "Just because Eren's dead doesn't mean you can throw your life away." I thought, but didn't dare say it.   
"If I die, I die. But if I win, I get to live." She turned away from us and glanced back. "You don't stand a single chance to win... unless you fight."  
Those didn't sound like her words at all. They sounded like what Eren would have said.   
She jumped, and left us standing there, gaping at her.  
Jean stood, mumbling things next to me. Suddenly, he was gone, flying through the air. "Hey!" He yelled, "I don't think leaving a comrade to fight all on her own was ever part of our formation! Come on, folks! Or we're gonna turn out to be spineless cowards alright!"   
I sighed at him. Of course he spring into action the second Mikasa decided to risk her life. People flew past me, my hair whipped forward. I gripped the handles of my swords and followed after them.

I ran on the buildings as much as possible. Because, 1) I wasn't good at actually maneuvering with the gear, and 2) I was running out gas.  
I reached a section I couldn't jump and use the 3DMG to pull me across. It grabbed the building, pulled me half way, and then dropped me. I hit the ground, rolling. I groaned, standing up, and trying to make it work. "Please... please..." A titan lumbered toward me and I started running.   
I looked behind me, seeing it much closer than it should have been. I pulled out my blades, skidding to a stop and turning to face it. I wasn't going to get out of this on foot. The least I could do was go down fighting.  
My heart hammered in my chest as it reached down for me. I slashed at it's fingers, but not deep enough. It grabbed me and a scream left my mouth. I didn't want to scream, I didn't want to be a victim.  
I stabbed it in the hand, kicking and struggling as it brought me to it's open mouth.  
"No! No! Stop!" I cried helplessly. I continued to slash at it, but my cuts made no difference. Tears rolled freely down my face as I felt my arms fall over its fingers. I was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it.  
I shut my eyes, wondering if this was how my dad felt in his final moments.  
It's breath assaulted my nose and choked back another sob, eyes shutting even tighter.   
Suddenly, the grip around me was no longer so tight.   
Also, I was falling. But not for long.   
Something hit me from the side, and I was sailing through the air to a roof. We hit the roof hard and rolled off, hitting the ground.  
My everything hurt, I realized, as my savior pulled me to my feet. "Jean--" I choked out, my tears dry on my face. I looked at my feet, not wanting him to see how upset I was. I was a soldier and I should act like one.  
My stomach was in knots. I felt like a failure again. Fuck, he had to save me... "I'm sorry... I'm sorry it ran out-- I couldn't kill it..." I felt more tears glossing over my eyes and angrily blinked them away. "It's fine. I'm just glad I got to you in time." He said, hand on my arm as if to comfort me. I looked up at him and he looked away from me. "We should get inside or something. I'm pretty much entirely out of gas and your gear looks pretty fucked."   
I nodded and followed him into a half-broken building. We crouched in a corner, and I wiped my eyes every once and a while. I had given up at the sight of that titan... I had let it break my spirit. "We need to get out of here..." He mumbled, looking out from one of the windows in the building.  
"We're screwed, Jean. You can get out..." my voice cracked, "you should have just left me I can't do this. I'm going to die anyway." I hugged my knees to my chest.  
"Are you just giving up?" He snapped, catching my gaze. I felt small and childish...  
"I... I did. When the titan had me, I gave up..." I felt more tears fall from my eyes. "How am I supposed to join the Survey Corps if I can't even kill one titan..."  
"Just stop crying. You're alive and you have the chance to keep going." Jean said, voice less harsh.  
We were quiet for a minute as he tried to figure out what to do. Honestly, I was convinced we were going to die here. I had broken gear, he was running out of fuel... "Jean?" I asked quietly.  
"What?"  
I looked at my feet. "Have you ever kissed anyone before?" I asked sheepishly. I knew it was stupid to think about such a thing...  
His cheeks turned red at my question and he looked at a spot on the floor away from me. "N--No." he said.  
"I haven't either... Sorry, I just... wondering." I said quickly. It was so stupid... but I didn't want to die never having had my first kiss.   
There was silence for a few minutes. "Did--did you... want-- to..." He stammered out, still not looking at me.  
I blushed profusely. I was going to die, and Jean was my best friend... "If you--don't mind..." I glanced at him and then looked away.   
"Okay...then." He turned to me, not looking into my eyes. I focused on his mouth, biting my lip nervously. "You just, lean forward and...close your eyes." He mumbled.  
I shut my eyes, holding my breath, just waiting. It felt like an eternity, but finally I felt his lips against mine. It was tentative, nervous. After a second, I kissed back.   
He pulled away, still not looking at me.   
I bit the inside of my cheek and stared at my knees.   
"I just kissed my best friend..." Now that thought consumed the rest, and I wasn't thinking about dying anymore.  
God, I was so stupid.


End file.
